The Crossroads
by Gamer4COD
Summary: "Welcome to The Crossroads officer, where one of us may go on and the other will move on." Judy died, but can she get a second chance? Considering that whatever it is opposite of her is the only obstacle between her and life, can she best this criminal? He already shows that he has blood on his hands, and he's been here before but... can she exchange his third chance for her 2nd?
1. Take a seat officer

"I swear, the newbies always wake up last."

The voice cut through the air, it's light baritone and almost angry masculine tone snapped Judy's eyes open, only to be covered with a paw from the sheer whiteness of her surroundings. She hissed in displeasure before she slowly opened her eyes, much more cautiously this time, allowing them the chance to adjust to the brightness. The first thing she saw was a table in front of her...

Next was the strange mammal sitting at the opposite side from her, calmly playing with a small balance scale made of brass, or possibly gold, although even as the mammal played with it, he never sent one end to the tabletop or the other end too far skyward.

"Are you going to just sit there on the floor or are you gonna sit down?" He asked as Judy sat against the wall behind her, something she only then realised, while observing him. He was tall, easily three times her height without her ears, or about twice her height with their extra length, or that was what she guessed seeing as to the fact he was seated.

He, whatever he was, was mainly furless and his hide was a slightly tanned pink with a moderate length mop of brown, almost black, hair atop his head. Dressed rather plainly with a pair of blue jeans, a black tee shirt with some red, curled up dragon graphic on the front and a simple but sturdy silver wristwatch on his right arm.

"Look if it's all the same to you, I would rather we get started now."

"Started?" Judy asked as she stood up and looked around, the room she was in was, in a word, featureless. Excluding the two chairs, the table and the small scale on top of the aforementioned table that was still being played with by the bored looking creature; there were no windows, no doors or anything that wasn't white. She couldn't even tell what was making the light that allowed her to observe the empty room. "Started with what?"

"Well officer," The creature began, pointing at her uniform when she sent a confused glance at him, "to put it simply; we are here to make a decision."

Judy jumped onto the chair and stared at the creature in front of her, trying to recall all she could about the many different species that existed and drawing a blank on the one in front of her. Which was impressive considering how good a rabbit's memory is; do you have any idea what it must be like to remember an average of two hundred and fifty plus names, faces, birthdays and birthday preferences as well as recall all of that at the drop of a hat? Because that's what the average bunny has for immediate family and we're not even gonna touch distant family members with a thirty nine and a half foot pole.

"What kind of a decision?" She asked, calmly clasping her paws in front of her.

"Tell me, what's the last thing you recall?" He replied. Judy was about to answer automatically before her blood ran cold, colder than the ice wall back at the police academy, colder than running through Tundra Town in nothing but her fur, colder than Mister Big's icing pool.

"I-I-I-"

"Take your time-"

"I died!"

She shouted those two little words and turned pale beneath her fur, her eyes widened and her ears dropped in shock as she stared at the table. Her breathing quickened as tears threatened to spill forth. She almost didn't hear the sound of someone snapping their fingers right in front of her, but she heard him speak clearly.

"I know, feel free to guess how I got here." He told her, sympathy filling his words alongside compassion and kindness. "Actually, don't guess, look."

"Wha-" Was all she got out upon looking up. Behind him, as if it was nothing more than a painting on the wall, was a clear scene that showed the same creature, lying face up in a pool of blood surrounded by darker creatures, a few standing...

A few laying in their own crimson pools.

There, laying with a gun in one hand was the creature. He had obviously taken a lot of punishment before succumbing, the completely shredded left side of his chest and a few extra wounds on the other side contributed to the fact, he had also dished out more than his fair amount in return if the three other figures on the ground were any indication. Without realising it, she started breaking what she was looking at like it was a crime...

Which she realised, was exactly what it was... although what and why were the questions of the hour. Questions that kept certain other thoughts away for the moment.

It was unlikely that whatever she was looking at was anything other than an attempted murder, judging by the two other handguns and a sawn-off shotgun that laid next to the fallen darker ones. A hate crime possibly? He was the only one that stood out in the picture, but the difference was literally skin deep. Sure she had seen discrimination and biases, herself having sparked and kept more than her fair share, but she couldn't believe that skin colour was the reason. It was laughable!

She was laughing, hysteria filled her as the shock passed, she was talking to a dead mammal of an unknown, to her at least, species after having just died herself. She would have kept laughing were it not for the strange creature whose name she didn't even know.

"Seven sixty-two by thirty-nine, occasionally called cop-killers, three rounds to the chest before a malfunction occurred, loading jam, and on an Aye-Kay of all things!" She looked up, but the creature wasn't looking at her, he was looking over her, "I gotta say, I don't know if your feet are as lucky as they should be, especially considering just where you died, but your friend definitely raked in the winnings."

She slowly turned around and barely resisted the urge to vomit. There she was, laying in a pool of blood that seemed implausible for the small bunny, flanked by worn tombstones that marked her surroundings as a old, but well maintained, graveyard. Her partner next to her, paused mid-word with one paw on his radio and the other compressing a wound on her chest. Several yards away was another mammal, a wood and stamped metal assault rifle laying next to him with two gunshot wounds to the center of mass within mere inches of each other.

She didn't know whether to feel proud of her partner for the textbook shots, happy that he had avenged her, saddened that he took a life or angry that the jaguar killed her. She subconsciously clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. She shouldn't be here, wherever here was, she should be back in her squad car putting up with Nick's, occasionally annoying, jokes. Listening to him complain halfheartedly about her driving. Watching as he calmly dealt with angry citizens that were slandering his species. Just... just...

Living.

"Man, I swear if you start crying then I'm gonna join in."

"How?" Judy asked, once more staring at the tabletop, watching as the scale balanced out once more as he took his hand from it, "How are you so calm, how are you making jokes at a time like this?" She asked before she screamed at him.

"We're dead! Don't you get it?!"

If he was surprised or startled by her outburst, he could've gave Nick a lesson in wearing a emotional mask. He simply nodded as if it was an everyday thing to say you were dead.

Nick...

"Do you recall what I said when you woke up?" He asked as she went back to staring at the scale once more, "I'm not gonna sugar coat it, I've been right where you are once."

Judy looked up at him, only to shift her focus to the image behind him once more. There he was, lying face down in the middle of a four lane road with a different set of clothes and a backpack. A pickup truck with it's driver's door opened a few feet away, parked in the street close behind a minivan. Several other creatures; some like him, some like the dark ones and some like neither, stood around him as a distraught woman on a cell phone stayed back, likely calling nine-one-one.

"I was being chased, the backpack was loaded with something they wanted; drugs, money, a hit list, whatever it was, I couldn't let them get it." He calmly told her without so much as a glance behind him, "So, in a moment of incredibly genius grade stupidity, I ran blindly into traffic.

"I made it halfway across before I heard it, the squeal of old brake pads being worked harder than they had ever been worked... I flew over the minivan, scared the shit outta the soccer mom inside, and landed on the tailgate of the truck behind her back first, the backpack taking most of the impact and prevented me from having a broken spine. If that scratchback roofer wasn't tailgating her, I probably would've gone face first into the asphalt at terminal velocity... or his windshield."

"Why are you telling me this?" Judy asked as pieces slowly slid into place, "What does..."

He nodded as revaluation stuck her like a soccer mom driving a minivan, "Well officer, it seems you got it, or at least some of it, but just to clarify, welcome to The Crossroads; where you can get a second chance."

A second chance... The words brought comfort to her, she latched onto the glimmer of hope, I can go back, I can...

Live.

Of course, if there was one thing that Nicholas P. Wilde had taught her, it was that things are never free; of due, of debt, of an angle and most importantly, "What's the catch?"

There is always a catch in every too good to be true offer.

"Simple," He told her as he looked into her eyes, golden hazel meeting amethyst purple, "One goes on and one moves on. That's why it's called The Crossroads."

As if he wasn't blunt enough, he added, "We can plead, negotiate, simply not want to try that one great, terrible, awe inspiring, shaded grey thing called life again or even fight each other, but no matter the outcome, one has to move onto a path for the other to go on the other."


	2. And look into me

"Well, I rather not just call you officer and I'm sure you wouldn't mind having something to call me other than crook or criminal. Chux, that's as close as you'll get." He leaned over the table and she met his paw with her own.

"Officer Judy Hoops, Zootopia Police Department." She replied. They shook once and Judy was reminded of the time she got her paw pinched while working on a tractor. Painful than, simply noted now. "So… Chux? That's kind of strange for a name… or is it a gang-name?"

"No, no, and I told you, miss, that's as close as you'll get to my name." He shook his head with a grin that failed to reach his eyes, drawing her attention. "My father all but changed his name back in the navy, couldn't say it without scaring everyone about an enemy attack."

So far, Chux had seemed nice, calm and collected. Judy herself was surprised at his attitude before reminding herself that he had experience on his side. Although even that didn't explain why he was as tight as he was. Not in his posture, but in his eyes. Golden hazel, a friendly eye colour, had never looked so hostile, yet by his tone you would have never known. Calm and collected outside, fiery and passionate inside. He was even lighting a cigarette with a battered, old and scratched to near death Zippo, offering the pack to her. "Smoke?"

"No," Judy replied. He nodded, tucking the pack and lighter into his pocket. The room was silent except for a hiss as he drew a steady stream of smoke into his lungs, letting it billow out of his mouth in a large cloud. Oddly, Judy noted that she couldn't smell it, causing her to wonder if it even had any taste.

"What made you become a…"

"A drug dealer?" Chux asked when Judy nodded, the barely restrained glare passing through for a second and in it, Judy knew his sole emotion; rage. At her, death or his killers, she didn't know, yet his facade remained; even bringing to mind some song lyrics she once heard. _And like tale tales, with eyes you could yell, when they stepped out of the saloon, we're as hard as coffin-wood nails._ "First off, I'm not a dealer, okay. I'm more of a barback, understand?"

"A what?"

"A barback," he paused to draw in another breath from the, now less deadly, deathstick; speaking through the cloud of smoke. "A barback is kinda like an assistant bartender. Stock the shelves, clean the glasses, man a shotgun in a robbery, drive liquor from one bar to another to keep everyone's thirst sated. Only I brought the drugs in for the weekly restocking, ensure payment is received by the higher-ups, man a shotgun in a raid, both police and gang related, and drive drugs from crack house to trap-house to battle the war on withdraw."

"Ah," she didn't consider whether he had even shot at a cop before, let alone _killed_ one, but now the question was begging to be asked. "Have you ever, before then, I mean now… _killed_ a?.."

A knowing look and an eyebrow raised, he leaned back and took another drag from his cigarette, looking for all intents and purposes as serious as she had ever seen. Slowly, he breathed out. "I've been shot at by cops and shot back at them, the main difference was I didn't aim to kill. I've been beaten while in chains and beaten others in chains. I've been higher than the mountains that pierce Heaven and lower than the deepest pits of Hell. I close my eyes but see no faces; not from innocence but of a lack of guilt… them, or me; theirs, or mine; taken, and given. I've sinned against God, yet never repented, and I know not even Lucifer could bring the holy words to my lips."

Judy nodded stiffly; just what manner of creature was he? She didn't understand everything but knew that what he spoke of was religious. Heaven, Hell, God, Lucifer, the names meant nothing to her, yet the symbolic meaning of them was clear. He was a killer who didn't regret the lives he took. He made his peace, believed wholeheartedly that whatever redemption that was offered for others could never be given, or even forced onto him. He was the type of mammal with a will of iron and a heart of rage; capable of great atrocities and committed till death. Or even after, she noted.

"Enough of this downer talk," he said, smiling when Judy looked up, again not reaching his eyes. "Wanna see something?"

Judy nodded, watching as he flicked the cigarette butt to the ground and grinding it underpaw as he stood up. He waved her over as he walked towards the wall behind him. "This might just be the best part of the whole deal."

Judy walked around the chair, giving her curiosity a little as she glanced at the floor by his chair, noting the absence of a cigarette butt or even a burn mark on the floor. When she turned back to him, he muttered about how the room doesn't like being dirty and turned to place a paw on the wall. "Just keep close, the things in here are tough."

"Sir, I wouldn't have graduated the ZPD academy if I wasn't tough myself." Her defensiveness earned a glance before he turned back to the wall.

"Well good, cause here that strength may buy you a few seconds at best, minute at worst." Without another word, he wiped his hand on the wall, reminding her of her first trip on the Zootopia Express when it passed through Tundratown. The white gave way and gradually, she could make out what was on the other side of the wall and her eyes widened in terror.

Blood splattered, bone fragmented, viscera and gore and at the center of it all was him. Standing, breathing and glaring at them. Flames seemed to dance as he took as step towards them, and another, until he broke into a full sprint that a cheetah would lust after and leaped at the wall. She fell backwards, scrambling to get her paws under her as he attacked, hollow thuds ringing with every hit. Judy had seen savages behind thick Plexiglas walls before, and the monster in front of her put them all to shame.

"What the _fuck_ is that thing!?" she shouted. Chux shook his head as he turned around, leaning against the wall casually as the monster silently roared it's hatred. A smile came to his lips as he asked a single question.

"What, you don't see the resemblance?" he laughed as she took in the sight, a harsh barking laugh that could cause a pack of hyenas to back down.

Slowly, understanding came to her. The monster that was drenched in more blood than she had in her body, matted fur atop its head speckled with bits of bone and brain, wielding a rusted and bloodstained machete with a serrated edge along the back of the blade, was…

" _You_ ," she whispered.

He nodded as he glanced over at the monster that was dressed similarly as himself, frowning when he realized that it's attention was still on breaking down the invisible barrier and… speaking. She couldn't hear it, but the words needn't leave further than its lips for her to know what it was saying. Horrible things, hateful things, _savage_ things that made her slowly back away. Chux snorted as he stood up and took a step away.

"For your information, Officer Hoops, that beast is my inner demon. My hate, rage, fear, cowardness, all of those and more fed it for over a decade and I _very_ rarely let that _aberration_ see the light of day."

He turned around, facing it again as he spoke over his shoulder. "I hope, for both of our sakes, that this lesson has taught you caution. But there is evermore to learn, try and stay on the path."

With that, he calmly tapped on the barrier, sending it and the monster to the ground as if the both of them were two-dimensional drawings on a piece of paper. Soundlessly, the lights turned off and somehow Judy knew one thing. Fate wouldn't spare her so easily.

Author's note: I'm not sure how this all stood up compared to the last chapter and to be honest three months wait for this is a rip off of epic proportions. I only started working on this about a week ago, just too much lack of interest. Anyway, it's resuscitated, still full of holes from bullets but also alive, barely. I promise this is not the end, Judy won't wake up alive in the next chapter, the human hasn't pulled a fast one on her but he _did_ do something. Whatever, I'm sorry for this and I hope you let me know how much I suck in a review.


End file.
